Developing an Online Tool to Measure Social Network Structure and Perceived Social Support Amongst Autistic Students in Higher Education: A Feasibility Study.
Jiedi Lei, Chris Ashwin, Mark Brosnan and 1 others
PMID 31119511WHAT IT FOUND
Ten autistic students could complete a tool that maps their social contacts and support.
They reported family support as more frequent and higher quality than friends or others. The tool matched less well with an existing support measure for autistic students.
Key findings
01Ten autistic students completed the online SNaPSS in 12-47 minutes, after one of eleven volunteers withdrew due to high social anxiety.
02Participants reported more frequent and higher-quality support from family than from friends or other network members.
03For typically developing students, SNaPSS support scores matched the existing MSPSS support measure for family and friends, but for autistic students only friends' support quality matched.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The feasibility sample was only ten autistic students, so it cannot show how the tool performs in wider populations. Part 2 used only baseline cross-sectional data from 28 autistic and 112 typically developing students, so it cannot show changes during university transition. The longitudinal study data were still incomplete at submission, so longer-term usefulness was not tested. The tool's agreement with existing support measures was inconsistent for autistic students, especially for family support. Self-report may be affected by recall and introspection difficulties, and the 3-month timeframe may be hard during holidays.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this tool is a validated clinical assessment for autistic university transition. The ten-student feasibility part showed completion and feedback, but the validity part showed inconsistent agreement with an existing support measure for autistic students and tested no patient outcomes.